Just A Game
by TotallyNonchalantFBI
Summary: Ariel was by no means the most astonishing mermaid Ursula had dealt with. Ursula collected souls, like how children collect shells, this was merely a game, and she didn't lose. Longer summary inside.


**Well you can't get rid of me that easily, I'm back :D. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of excited. I wrote one [or two?] fanfics in between this period of time, and I want to take another shot at everyone's favorite Disney Princess. Now I'm hoping that my writing has matured a little since my first Little Mermaid fanfic, for although I have not published all of them, I have been writing a lot. So, fingers crossed! Last point, this fanfic has absolutely no connection to my other Little Mermaid fanfiction, or any of the stories I've ever posted. [Or really, ever written] So enjoy, review, and have fun in your little merry lives.**

**Summary: Ariel wants to be a human more than anything in the world, and Ursula is happy to make that dream come true, in exchange for her voice. It seems to be an easy task, three days for a kiss, but Ursula isn't about to let her get away that easily. Ariel finds Eric, who she is convinced is the man of her dreams, and that he can be the one who breaks the spell. Ursula watches, waits, until the perfect time to pounce. Who wins in the end? [Does not follow plotline of story, heads up]**

The first and most important thing any wise merperson knew about the Sea Witch, was that she did not like to lose. Losing, in itself, was never something she had to amend to, for her sport was deceit and she held the trophy.

She had proficiency in what she did: she was charismatic, understanding, sympathetic. In merely a few minutes you could forget the years of lessons pounded into your head. _Do not trust the Sea Witch, she is bad, she is trouble! _You revealed more than you meant to, told her exactly what you wanted and how you would give up _anything_ and _everything_ to get it. By doing that, you placed a loaded pistol into her hands. You left yourself no bargaining, no ability to walk away, and you wouldn't - not when you were so close!

And she knew that.

Before you knew it, you were brought in, intertwined in her web. You watched yourself, signing a contract, bargaining, trusting the Sea Witch as every part of your body tried to restrain you, your brain screaming '_Don't do it! You'll regret it!' _You watched yourself in horror as you made a deal with the devil, per se.

You'd lose something, not just money, something _personal_, but you'd forget about it soon enough. You would feel true happiness, you'd wonder why people would curse the sea witch so.

Carmela Heights was a young, naïve mermaid. She was a mere fifteen years old, and already felt as if life had dragged her to a deep dark abyss. More than anything, she just wanted to be _pretty_ like the other girls. She'd complain sometimes, to her best friend, Abby, to her parents, siblings. They always told her that she was beautiful, energetic, funny, smart, simply all – around wonderful! But every time that she looked in the mirror she just didn't see it.

What Abby told her was shining ebony hair, she saw as inky and dull. What her parents said were sparkling blue eyes, she saw as shallow and grey. She was told she was thin, average size for a mermaid. She felt as if she weighed three hundred pounds, her muffin top spilling out of the top of her fin, her stomach tucking inside itself to hide like a sea turtle.

She wanted the boys to notice her, the girls to talk to her. Fed up and angry, she turned to the Sea Witch. The Sea Witch was sympathetic, handing her tissues and patting her arm. The Sea Witch told her '_I can make you beautiful. More beautiful than all the other girls, more beautiful than all the Princesses._' Carmela smiled, begged for reassurance. '_Can you really do that?_' Well, the Sea Witch could.

In exchange for a small price, naturally. _"Well, I need a little something in return, dear!" The Sea Witch said, patting her arm._

"_Well, I don't have a lot of money, but if you let me go back, I can return with some from my father's vault!" Carmela insisted._

"_No, no!" The Sea Witch insisted. "I could not ask you to steal! But you could give me…your personality."_

"_My personality? But -"_

"_Now, now! Don't worry! If you get a boy to kiss you, _he_ kisses _you_, you will then get it back! And you have three days to complete your task, anyway. Boys fall in love quickly, you'll have them falling all over you in no time!"_

"_But how will they like me? If I don't have a personality, then what do I have?" Carmela asked, clamping her fingers on the side of the stool._

"_What do you have? Dear, you'll have everything! You'll be the most beautiful girl in the seven seas, have you ever seen an ugly girl with a boyfriend?" Ursula whipped around, throwing potions into a basin below her. She waved her right hand, and a contract, glowing gold, appeared before Carmela. "Boys don't care about personality, they want to tow about the most gorgeous girl they can find! Personality gets in the way! And I can make it so they all will follow you! What's to think about? Nothing! Sign the contract!"_

_Carmela stammered, but picked up the fish – skeleton quill and signed her name. The contract disappeared, as did the Carmela that was known and loved._

Now the Sea Witch was true to her word, and made Carmela by far the most gorgeous girl in the ocean. But Carmela had given up her intelligence, wit, kindness, sensitivity, and everything that made her worth being around.

The Sea Witch was surreptitious, lying in wait like a cat playing with a mouse. Carmela had a day of free reign, turning heads as she swam in loops down the street. But the next day, boys began to approach her with more intent than the Sea Witch was comfortable with, as she watched Carmela from her crystal ball.

The Sea Witch gave the personality to herself, as well as a potion to make her own octopus form into a beautiful mermaid. Within minutes, the boys were back to saying 'Carmela _who?_'. The new girl was the dream, the whole package. By sunset the next day, Carmela's soul had been taken, and added to the ever – growing collection of the Sea Witch's.

If all lessons are forgotten, most people can use their common sense to realize that a novice does not face off the master. And the Sea Witch was the master and what she did. Wiser people learned from the lessons of those who fell to the Sea Witch's entrancing powers. They were the parents, the teachers, who tried the best they could to instill into their children's and student's brains. '_Do not trust the Sea Witch, she is bad, she is trouble!_' Every night, they begged Poseidon to not have their children lured to the Sea Witch.

Every parent believed in the same philosophy. It won't happen to my child, it will happen to someone else. Unfortunately, we're all 'someone else' to someone else. And King Triton was no different than all the other parents. He tried to teach all of his daughters of the evil of the Sea Witch. He told them stories, all with the same beginning, and end, of Carmela's. He begged them to do anything but go to the Sea Witch. No one had ever beat the Sea Witch at her own twisted game of cat and mouse, and he didn't want his daughters to be contenders, pawns in her little game.

But no one goes to the Sea Witch with emotions in check, a calm head on their shoulders. Mermen and Mermaids alike swim to the Sea Witch with an emotional hurricane, on the verge of tears, feeling as if they cannot go one more day with the derisory life they're living.

And that's how she gets them. That's her checkmate, her goal, her three in a row. The winning card she plays. The game is over before the other person even begins playing. The second you sign your name to the contract, you've lost. Using the issued three days is a waste of time, prolonging the inevitable, your last three days of joy before you're dragged back to where you don't want to be.

But you tend to forget about that as you swirl about in a typhoon of your own wretchedness.

Ursula cackled, unable to hold back her joy from winning _again_, as the youngest redheaded princess scrawled 'Ariel' on the contract.

_Checkmate_.


End file.
